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The fire crackled placidly, warming the small shelter erected on the prairie. |
Under the starry sky and the sinister light of the Blood Moon, now half full, indicating that a week had passed since the arrival of the two witches in the world of Arvan, a protective translucent dome sheltered the group of adventurers, sitting around the bonfire to rest. |
Freya held a totem, a small wooden figurine in the shape of a deer, close to her as she recited an incantation. |
Amity and Luz watched curiously as a small blueberry plant grew from the ground, flowering and within seconds ripening a handful of blueberries that the young Aasimar picked. |
"Here you are, goodberries, they are magical berries that heal minor wounds and provide enough sustenance for an entire day," she explained, handing a couple of berries to each of them. |
"Uhh, thanks," Luz smiled, taking the berries and eyeing them before tasting them. |
It was quite nice and juicy as well as nutritious as she felt full as soon as she swallowed it. |
"Mh, goodberry, that's not a spell a paladin normally knows, not even one of the oath of the ancients," Merren commented, eating a berry. |
"No, it's a spell I learned from the druids of the circle I lived with," Freya said with a slight smile, eating a berry herself. |
"Wow, that's not bad... Willow should learn this spell, it would be very useful for her Flyer Derby training," Amity murmured, enjoying her berry. |
"Speaking of which, you haven't told us much about your world, the Boiling Isles, right? Could you tell us a little about it? That is, if it's not a problem for you," Freya asked in a calm tone. |
Luz and Amity exchanged a quick glance and then nodded. |
"Sure, what would you like to know?" Luz asked in turn. |
"Well, for example, how is it?", asked the paladin. |
"Mh, the Boiling Isles aren't like this continent for starters... I assume," Amity said, narrowing her eyes uncertainly. |
"What do you mean?" asked Merren, perplexed. |
"Well... Artania doesn't stand on the carcass of a dead giant, does it?" Amity asked back. |
Strange looks painted Freya and Merren's faces. |
"No? I'm pretty sure Artania is standing on solid earth," the half-elf replied, somewhat incredulous. |
"The Boiling Isles, on the other hand, were born from the carcass of an almost completely extinct race of powerful magical giants known as Titans," Luz replied to her and then caressed her palisman while a light smile painted her face. |
"There is still only one titan left and in some ways, he is my adoptive little brother" |
Merren and Freya exchanged glances, somewhat unsure of the girl's words but decided to believe her for the moment. |
"Can you... explain yourself better? Preferably if you started from the beginning," the half-elf asked, crossing his arms. |
"Oh, sure," nodded the witch. |
"So, the Titans were powerful users of magic, capable of casting spells through glyphs and were numerous in ancient times," she began and then Amity arrived and created a small illusion to better show the story. |
"But then the Archivists arrived, powerful Star Gods who noticed how the Titans" magic could nullify their own, so they decided to wage war on them... exterminating most of the Titans," said the witch of abominations, showing stylized images of hooded figures stars face the Titans. |
"What assholes..." Merren muttered, an irritated look on her face. |
"Did they exterminate them just because they posed a possible threat? How cruel...", Freya said, shaking her head in disappointment. |
"And that's not the only thing they did that was cruel," Luz said with a rather serious look. |
"The Archivists had a little brother, the Collector, younger and naive than his brothers... they tricked him into playing with the last remaining children of the last Titan alive, until the Archivists took them and their father unfairly blamed the Collector for this, ending up trapped by the Titan in another dimension"... |
"And already these Archivists are pissing me off, this is a good way to tell a story, what happened next?", asked the half-elf. |
"Yes, what happened to the rest of the Titans?", Freya asked in turn. |
"Well... I'm afraid they died, but one of them survived though... King, Eda, my mentor, found him about ten years ago on a mysterious island when he was just a puppy and adopted him as her own. son," the young witch replied, smiling sweetly. |
"Aww, how sweet," the paladin murmured, smiling back at her. |
"So... "King" is the last living Titan, right?" asked Merren. |
"In practice yes, until a few years ago, despite being a carcass the Titan of the Boiling Isles still had magic in themselves, their heart was still beating in the center of the isles," Amity replied, placing her hands on her legs. |
"And I guess it stopped beating now," the half-elf said, crossing his arms. |
Luz sighed slightly. |
"Yes, unfortunately the Titan has been permanently gone for four years now and with them their magic... I could make glyphs using the magic of the islands and the Titan but..." |
"With them dead now you can't anymore, right?", Freya asked, getting an affirmative nod from the human. |
Merren nodded, then realized something. |
"Wait, if they are dead how can you make your own glyphs? And...does your magic work like her’s? Because from what I've seen, of all the spells you've cast, I've never once heard you utter a verbal component," he observed, eyeing Amity. |
She jumped, opening her eyes wide and passing a hand on the back of her neck. |
"Oh well not really, witches don't really use Titan magic, ancient witches adapted to the islands by developing a bile sac attached to the heart that produces mystical fluids that allow us to cast spells through a circle," she explained , producing a magic circle and creating a flame. |
"Wow... interesting and disgusting at the same time," Merren commented with a nod and a smirk. |
"And I can cast the glyphs thanks to Zarwid", Luz replied nonchalantly and then opened her eyes wide and covered her mouth, surprising both Amity, Merren and Freya but for very different reasons. |
"Thanks to Zarwid in what sense?" Freya asked, her eyes narrowing. |
"Oh well you know...thanks to Weave and...stuff," she giggled nervously and in a cold sweat. |
The bard and the paladin exchanged an extremely dubious look. |
"Luz, if you have a secret you don't need to tell us...but you don't need to lie to us," Freya said, crossing her arms. |
"Yeah, you don't have to do that... we've earned your trust, haven't we?" Merren asked, raising an eyebrow. |
Luz looked uncertainly at Amity, the latter nodded slightly causing the young witch to sigh. |
"Yes, you're right," she murmured. |
"For starters, the Boiling Isles is not the name of the world we come from, or rather that of Amity, I come from the planet Earth, in the Human Realm ... in my world there are no other creatures like elves or dwarves, but only humans and animals and there is no magic but we have technology", she began, getting interest... |
"Amity's world is known as the Demon Realm and before you jump to conclusions, yes there are demons there and no, they are not as bad as the ones in this world," she said, holding her hands up defensively. |
"And what are they like? Because the demons here are bloodthirsty psychopathic monsters born in the chaotic plane of the Abyss," Merren asked, his tone not exactly convinced. |
"And devils are control freaks hungry for power and souls from the Thirteen Hells," Freya commented at one time, a doubtful expression on her face. |
"None of this actually, the demons of the Demon Realm are born from the carcass of a Titan, they are more like witches in that they also have a bile sac and... well, they are no more evil than any other people," Amity explained. |
"I see...continue," Merren said, nodding at them. |
"Anyway, a few days ago Amity and I were doing some research in the most remote parts of the Boiling Isles when we found a pool of Titan Blood, magical blood so powerful that it can open portals to other worlds and well... there was an earthquake and in an attempt to save Amity from the collapse of the tunnel we were i... |
"Okay, so far this explanation makes sense... what about Zarwid?" asked the half-elf. |
"Oh well, let's say he was the one who found us, we appeared at the foot of a ruined chapel and took shelter in it from the rain, then in the middle of the night he appeared like some kind of priest and started saying that we we didn't belong in that world, that we would have met a terrible end and all those things tha... |
"And on top of that he informed us that as long as the Blood Moon is high in the sky he won't be able to take us home or we'll risk ending up in a much worse place," Amity added, looking rather worried. |
Merren snorted slightly. |
"I don't think that apart from the Abyss or the Thirteen Hells, the other planes are so terrible... if you don't consider the Far Realm", he replied, opening his eyes wide as a vein of terror pervaded him at the idea of that place. |
Luz narrowed her eyes at him, sure she'd heard that name before. |
"Far Realm? What place is that?" she asked. |
"Mh, how can I explain it simply?", murmured the other, passing a hand over his chin. |
"Imagine the entire Great Wheel as a city divided into many neighborhoods that are the dimensional planes, some good, some bad, and some full of boring bureaucracy," he said, getting a nod of understanding from the witch. |
"Well, the Far Realm is literally everything there is outside of that city and it's a horrible place full of aberrations and monsters that despise that city and everyone in it as well as horribly mutate or drive anyone affected by them insane.. .with the kind of insanity that gets you thrown into an asylum and throws a... |
"Is there really such a place?" Luz asked, trembling slightly. |
"Unfortunately yes and it is also the cause of the fall of the Radamian Empire, something over five hundred years ago arrived from the Far Realm... something alien and terrible that caused a ripple effect that reached here and caused the Great Cataclysm, disrupting the Weave, the source of Magic and decreeing the fall ... |
"But enough about talking about death and nefarious fate of a distant past, let's rather talk about death and nefarious fate of our uncertain present while drinking something and dividing the spoils", he said in a cheerful tone, taking a flask of water from his bag and taking a sip to then show a disappointed look, dis... |
"Aww, now what do I drink while indulging in my mild form of greed?" he asked himself with a pout. |
Luz showed a slight smile. |
"If you want I could offer you some water, I have new glyphs to use now," she revealed. |
Merren raised an eyebrow. |
"Sure, I can work on something with water," he nodded. |
The young witch then took her tome and, tearing off a page, placed it on the ground, pressing the glyph and generating a small dornado of water. |
The half-elf smiled as he brought the flask closer and filled it. |
Immediately afterward he moved a hand, casting a spell. |
The water lit up for a brief moment and then returned to normal. |
With a satisfied smile Merren drank from the flask, humming lightly. |
"What spell was it?" Luz asked, curious. |
"Oh, Prestidigitation, a cantrip quite useful for various things, like lighting bonfires, torches, creating sounds, cleaning clothes, changing the flavor of food and drinks and creating a little illusory trinket for a few seconds," he replied. |
"Uhh, nice," the girl smiled back. |
"In any case, let's proceed with the distribution of the objects that I took from that crazy bloodsucker", said the young bard, taking four objects from the bag. |
They were golden handcuffs, a silver ring with a small figurine depicting a frog, boots made of leather and green leaves and finally a black staff with a cobra-shaped head. |
"So, we have Dimensional Shackles, if you shackle someone in a state where they cannot react they will not be able to use spells or means to teleport or travel between planes except for going through a portal, they are also enchanted to be almost impossible to break ... in fact you can only free yourself once a month,"... |
"Who wants them? I'm not interested," he shrugged. |
Freya raised a hand slightly. |
"Could I take them? I think I have a spell that can allow me to comply with the conditions required by the handcuffs" |
"That is okay for me, you two instead?" asked Merren, turning to the two witches. |
"Fine with me too," Amity shrugged. |
"They're all yours, Freya," Luz smiled. |
Young Aasimar took them, thanking them kindly. |
"Next is the Staff of the Adder, it can turn into a poisonous snake on command and carry out your orders, I'll take this one mainly because it can only bind to a cleric, a druid or a warlock ... and also I will sell it because I find snakes horrifying," he exclaimed, taking the item. |
Luz gasped, clutching Stringbean against her cheek. |
"How can you say that after my sweet Stringbean saved you hundreds of miles of walking!" |
"Ah so your palisman is a snake ...", commented the half-elf and then turned to Amity. |
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